Gingrich: I’m not trying to “get past” my infidelities
posted at 2:00 pm on March 26, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
In 2007, as Newt Gingrich publicly toyed with the idea of running for the Republican nomination for President, the sotto voce chatter was about Gingrich’s “baggage” should he win the nomination. That didn’t refer to his public-relations defeat over the 1995 government shutdown, either. Gingrich chose not to run in 2008 and didn’t address his divorces and infidelities, but if his interview with an Iowa television station is any measure, he’s serious about running this time:
Glover: Speaker, I’d like to go through some of the weaknesses that your critics point to with you. They say that you bring some personal and political baggage to a race. You’ve been married three times, you’ve had messy divorces, you’re campaigning in a state where the Republican Party is dominated by Christian conservatives. How do you get past that?
Gingrich: I think you don’t get past it, I think you tell the truth and I think you share your life’s experiences and you admit that you have had weaknesses and that you have had failures and that you’ve gone to God to seek forgiveness and to seek reconciliation and then people make a decision and they look at the totality of my life, I’m 67, Callista and I have a great marriage, we have two wonderful daughters, we have two grandchildren who are terrific and people have to decide on balance. Am I a person that they would respect and trust in the White House?
I think he’s right that candidates don’t “get past” anything in campaigns, even for issues already asked and answered. And while it’s true that personal lives shouldn’t have much impact on policy stands, it’s even more true that voting decisions are rarely based on cold logic. Voters need an emotional connection to a candidate, which Gingrich diagnoses almost perfectly in his summation on this point. Voters have to trust and respect the candidate for whom they will vote, especially if that candidate wants those voters to evangelize on his or her behalf.
That puts Gingrich in a tough position, not just because he’s had two divorces but because of the circumstances surrounding them. In both cases, Gingrich left his wives to marry women with whom he had been carrying on affairs. That has been fodder for the Left for years, and in the kind of tough primary that will unfold this year, it will be for Republicans, too. While these kinds of personal peccadilloes may be less unusual than they might have been 40 years ago, they still don’t play towards trust and respect with the conservative base. His previous attempt to explain this — that his work on behalf of the country drove him to adultery — didn’t play well with anyone. And that explanation also speaks to trust and respect, in a way that Gingrich obviously didn’t intend.
The tragedy of this is that Gingrich is one of the brightest top-tier activists in the Republican Party. He’s both articulate and expert, has tremendous power as a motivational speaker, and knows how to organize effectively. He has the same political weakness as any Congressman, which is no proven ability to win a state-wide election, but his years of national activism could have overcome that, and still might. The baggage problem will remain, however, even if Gingrich has finally hit on the proper formula for dealing with it directly.
Blowback
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Maybe just because you hate it? It’s fun pissing off lefties.
Lanceman on March 26, 2011 at 8:49 PM
——-
I heard it was also fun to ditch your wife while she was battling cancer, then ditch your second for someone half your age, then act all self righteous about the sanctity of marriage. I’m sure God thinks it’s hilarious.
Dave Rywall on March 26, 2011 at 8:56 PM
Dr, do you see anyone here defending that?
-Aslan’s Girl
Aslans Girl on March 26, 2011 at 8:58 PM
NAFTA
Screw you Gingrich. Thanks a lot you “new world order”, America Sell out, A******. Same to you Billy Jeff for signing it……
and on top of that, if you can stomach it, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RQKNH_nwM4
maineconservative on March 26, 2011 at 9:12 PM
Newt, since you are so smart, can you solve this anagram?
AWAY GO WON!
drunyan8315 on March 26, 2011 at 9:26 PM
You must have heard correctly, then. After all, when it comes to correct moral behavior, ‘rats wrote the book.
But don’t get the wrong idea. Gingrich is barely a step above Suckabee in my book. And I’d just as soon he went away for good.
Lanceman on March 26, 2011 at 9:33 PM
You accurately predicted my reaction to the clip, maineconservative. I had to cut it off the first time I clicked on it and had to have the fortitude to watch all of it the second time I tried, then go to the website he was promoting.
Good Lord – how on earth does Newt think he can overcome that clip from as recently as 2008, getting all chummy with Nancy Pelosi over a website dedicated to “climate change crisis”? Who is he kidding?!?!?
The falsified “climate crisis” data aside, the very image of him sitting next to Pelosi is poison to any aspiration for him to win a GOP nomination. This is far worse for him than the image of Michael Dukakis in a tank was for Dukakis.
Every politician is bound to make a few missteps here and there, but that error in judgment by Newt, which certainly isn’t his only one, will cost him dearly.
OneVision on March 26, 2011 at 10:09 PM
exactly correct OneVision. Pelosi was the boogeyman of the 2010 election and him sitting next to her on a couch chatting about global warming. talk about bad optics. this takes the cake!
maineconservative on March 26, 2011 at 10:42 PM
Speaking of John Edwards, how’s he doing these days?
BruthaMan on March 26, 2011 at 10:47 PM
The key question Republicans need to answer is: How do you make people like Newt go away?
jackal40 on March 26, 2011 at 11:06 PM
That clip with Princess Nanny is Newt’s Romneycare.
slickwillie2001 on March 26, 2011 at 11:25 PM
Because he stinks so badly as a president that he attracts flies? Or that not even flies respect him? Or that he’s the only president ever so caught in pictures? It’s symbolic. Sue petefrt for racism, erudite one.
Schadenfreude on March 26, 2011 at 11:30 PM
Has anyone ever won the office of POTUS with only a term or two… I don’t know how long Newt was there but even twenty years… That isn’t qualifying to be President, the jobs have nothing in common other than being Washington insiders.
If Newt wanted to be President, showing he could run his own life successfully would have been a good start.
And being the top dog somewhere… even the speaker of the house has a very narrow set of people who report to you. Any mistakes are shared by many many others. And you aren’t held accountable for your wrong doings, you can’t even be sued.
And since he did leave that job in disgrace, I don’t see how he has the nerve to even suggest it.
petunia on March 26, 2011 at 11:44 PM
Bammie’s brain is rotting, the flies know.
slickwillie2001 on March 26, 2011 at 11:51 PM
Ummm… Newt is a Dupe OF the right, FOR the Democrats. Is that better?
Bcs he is a dupe. A compromising surrendering Dupe.
I did not mean he was a communist himself.
That is ridiculous.
Hopefully I’ve made myself a little clearer for you.
Badger40 on March 27, 2011 at 12:26 AM
As Rush says, infidelity is a resume enhancement. I really don’t care about divorced politicians. I don’t like people who cheat in a marriage, it is more honorable to end the marriage, THEN go find a date.
But the reason Newt isn’t my guy in 2012 is THE PELOSI COUCH. The right can NEVER even entertain the argument that global warming is caused by anything mankind can do to the planet. The science does NOT prove it. Newt showed horrible judgment when he allowed himself to be compromised with that ad. I think he was duped. A smarter person would have avoided that ad. We don’t want someone that can be duped so easily in the oval office.
karenhasfreedom on March 27, 2011 at 2:26 AM
and yet, he can’t seem to stay devoted to one woman at a time. That has always come across as wreckless to me, or arrogant, or entitled, or lacking common sense or good judgement… and I’m sorry, any of those things occurring in other areas of the life of a President can be a huge problem. And has been in the past.
Seriously, how difficult is it to not cheat on your spouse?
JeffinOrlando on March 27, 2011 at 8:44 AM
No you haven’t actually. Your explanation is utterly incoherent. Like Reagan, Newt is a staunch anti-Communist so the only possible way to use the words Newt and Communism in the same sentence would be to acknowledge that fact.
Buy Danish on March 27, 2011 at 8:48 AM
“Shouldn’t”???? What does “shouldn’t” mean? Personal lives do dictate what we vote for.
A hooker will always vote for legalizing prostitution. And politicians who take ‘gratuities’ will always vote for those who ‘tip well’.
Sorry, but your personal baggage never really goes away. As much of a supporter of Newt as I was back in 1994, I’m now a “no Newts is good Newts” guy.
Squiggy on March 27, 2011 at 9:18 AM
Hey, you can’t blame Newt for trying. It may be his last best shot, with the Republicans pretty much leaderless and the office ripe for the picking. It’s either now or run against Biden in 16, or Hillary in 20 if the Republicans blow it now (which they just might. They refuse to resist the Democrat institutional voter fraud.) But by that time they’d all be campaigning with walkers. He wouldn’t get the nomination then either but that would be epic, Newt vs Hillary. Like Predator vs Alien.
It’s tough to back off when you’re sitting around not doing anything anyway except writing boring books about stuff that didn’t happen in the Civil War. As an insider he’ll have a leg up but he won’t be able to get over this stuff with his personal life. The smart candidate will play him off against Romney in the early primaries and thread the needle.
curved space on March 27, 2011 at 9:59 AM
Hope he’s not counting on the Christian vote because he’s been repentant. Good for you Newt, have a nice life, but you’re not getting my vote.
Kissmygrits on March 27, 2011 at 10:08 AM
Amazing how Republican politics so often gets entangled in sex and Christian fantasy tales. We had a faithful Sunday school teacher as president once. Remember how that worked out?
Annar on March 27, 2011 at 10:51 AM
Well excuse me, but I am NOT saying Newt is a communist at all.
I am likening Newt as an ignorant DUPE & as someone, who though is anti-communist, actually supports the communist agenda, i.e. AGW, unwittingly.
I find your characterization of me bizarre.
I never meant once that Newt supported communism knowingly.
But again, by giving credence to something like AGW, is giving credence to communist ideologies.
Bcs THAT is what is at the heart of AGW, & other causes like it from the Left.
If you play with these people & concede their points, you are working with advancing communist ideologies, whether you think so or not.
Badger40 on March 27, 2011 at 12:01 PM
And BTW, Reagan was once a dupe for the communists. He admitted it himself.
Badger40 on March 27, 2011 at 12:03 PM
Now, quit badgering Bai Danish.
But, yeah, Danish, that global warming bullsh!t is pure commie claptrap from start to finish. So get this Newt being Precedent out of your head.
And if Barbour is subscribing to it, he’s done as well.
Lanceman on March 27, 2011 at 12:14 PM
:P
I was picked on 1st.
Actually, I’ve always liked Newt.
But he’s weak.
And obviously easily influenced bcs if he can subscribe to the AGW agenda, then I don’t care how smart everyone thinks he is, he is severely lacking in judgment skills.
This is quite enough for me to dismiss him as a viable candidate.
Badger40 on March 27, 2011 at 12:26 PM
And I seem to recall he cuddled up to HilRot Clinton too.
Lanceman on March 27, 2011 at 12:42 PM
Newt v. Waxman. My favorite part comes at 4:50. Newt v. the Goreacles. There’s lots more at You Tube. I’m shaking in my boots over this dupe of the communists./
Buy Danish on March 27, 2011 at 12:53 PM
This whole “public saint and private sinner” thing was created by the media to justify Clinton’s serial adultery and victimizing (rape) of women to keep him from being tossed out of office. It worked. Newt’s just trying to use the same rationale. It won’t work because the same media that used it for Clinton won’t let Newt use it now. Not that their credibility is on the line. That evaporated under Cinton as well.
SKYFOX on March 27, 2011 at 1:04 PM
Shame on you, Ed. As I have clearly pointed out before, according to the official doctrines of the Catholic Church… Newt has only been married once, to his current wife. Period.
mankai on March 27, 2011 at 1:11 PM
Why you are insisting upon being a pr!ck to me, I have no idea.
You must really like Newt a lot, so much so that you are taking my personal assessment of his past actions as some sort of affront to your personal self.
It is my opinion that he can be an unwitting dupe for the communist agenda, just like Reagan was at one time, which he freely admitted later on.
A dupe like Humphrey Bogart once was.
So grow up, will you?
My opinion is based upon things he has done, coupled with the desires of the democratic party, which has verifiable communist connections over the last almost century.
You don’t like it, so what.
But trying to marginalize me & make fun doesn’t make your objections any more credible.
Badger40 on March 27, 2011 at 1:18 PM
Why do you insist on getting worked up by fool behind a keyboard?
Look. In the end, we can all agree on getting rid of obama. I would rather not have Newt, but if it comes down to him, God forbid, I will still vote for the R.
You wanna get mad, get mad at the Drywalls, the curdogs, and the other liberal self-described geniuses. Hell’s bells, even Spathi ain’t all bad. And He’s a plant! :)
Lanceman on March 27, 2011 at 1:28 PM
I have a friend who has been married 3 times. His first two wives both cheated on him and left him. He refused to take any kind of leadership roled in his church, even a Sunday School teacher, because he says he obviously has a judgement problem.
I think the same thing can be said about Newt. As smart as he is, he has bad judgement.
ladyingray on March 27, 2011 at 1:35 PM
My intention is not to be a pr!ck to you. The fact is you are using hyperbole, and I’m pointing out how silly it is to suggest that Newt is a mindless Useful Idiot who has been indoctrinated into the Left’s global warming alarmism merely because of one idiotic ad he did with Nancy P. I have no idea what other “things” you refer to.
Many people are dupes of the Left – but Newt is not one of them. No one is a more ardent anti-Communist than I am, so believe me if I thought Newt had Marxist tendencies I’d be the first in line denouncing him. I don’t know any other commenter here who provided more links to more connections with Obama and the Communist Left than I did in 2008, including links to Steve Diamond and Trevor Loudon – way before Glenn Beck discovered him.
You are not the only one who has written Newt off for this one lapse. My intention is to show that we should judge people like Newt for their overall record and not dismiss them out of hand (Newt’s long career/record is demonstrably one of a stellar conservative and even visionary thinker). There will be very few, if any, people left standing if we insist on such rigid criteria. Who does this benefit? The Useful Idiot in the White House.
Buy Danish on March 27, 2011 at 2:00 PM
I’m not writing off all of his accomplishments.
I do not consider a major weakness like I’ve pointed out to be something that is downplayable.
I have no problem with considering less than ‘perfect’ candidates.
However, one of my peeves is where politicians stand on scientific/environmental issues bcs it directly affects my livelihood: ranching.
And Newt even toying with the idea of giving AGW a legitimate nod is to me, totally unforgivable.
It is an affront, IMHO, to common sense.
And while the man may be very intelligent, he is NOT very smart if he toys with the notion that mankind has caused ‘climate change’.
It’s an utter load of BS & it involves very high stakes for a lot of us out here in rural America.
This is a personal issue for me & one that I majorly consider when I vote for someone.
I will not forgive Newt for that bcs I consider it a major lapse in judgment.
He should never back down from things like that, nor should he surrender by ‘compromising’ on some of these issues, like AGW.
Bcs if he can do that with something like this, he can do it with anything & everything else.
A husband who is good at everything else except he cheats once in a while, is still a POS, IMHO.
Badger40 on March 27, 2011 at 2:34 PM
And for the record, communism has become such an antiquated term that people tend to dismiss any comparisons to communism as hyperbole.
But the reality is communism was a real threat & it still is. It has never gone away.
And anything anyone unwittingly does to contribute to it only helps the advancement of this way of thinking.
The socialist-communist ideals are very very similar to each other. And they are extremely destructive.
It greatly alarms me when Newt gives a nod to these things.
It is frightening bcs it illustrates just how clueless the American right can be when it comes to this threat.
Badger40 on March 27, 2011 at 2:43 PM
Hope he’s not counting on the Christian vote because he’s been repentant. Good for you Newt, have a nice life, but you’re not getting my vote.
Kissmygrits on March 27, 2011 at 10:08 AM
Exactly, true repentance is “metanoia,” literally a “change of mind,” or, more accurately, “a change of life.” It entails accepting both the responsibility of the sin and its consequences as well, in this case the fact that his sin is a dis-qualifier for responsible office.
ebrown2 on March 27, 2011 at 4:18 PM
Newt did not say that man causes climate change. He does say that he thinks “carbon loading” could contribute and it would be prudent to assume that is true (something I disagree with). However, he says there is no way of knowing, that the sun is the overwhelming cause of climate variations, and that it is hubris for man to think they are more powerful than the sun.
As for your preposterous insistence that you keep the communist meme going relative to Newt Gingrich, if you continue to do that I will stick with my original assessment. When you conflate the deliberate and insidious infiltration of academia and government by Marxists and Communists to people like Newt you’re in Alex Jones territory.
I don’t need you to tell me about the threat of Communism. You’re preaching to the choir. I’ve been following David Horowitz on this issue since 1997 with the publication of Radical Son. I reference Discover the Networks on a regular basis. I guarantee you that neither Horowitz (or any of the Second Thoughts crowd) think Newt is a dupe of Communism.
Buy Danish on March 27, 2011 at 6:15 PM
Newt is dead in the water. It ain’t happening. You, and he, needs to accept this as fact.
ladyingray on March 27, 2011 at 7:55 PM
I’m going to make a wild prediction here: That may or may not be true. Now explain what that prediction of yours has to do with any of the specific comments/topics I addressed.
Thanks in advance.
P.S. I wouldn’t be throwing around dead in the water predictions about any potential candidate. Except Ron Paul.
Buy Danish on March 27, 2011 at 9:57 PM
Wow, I haven’t commented in a while. But I can’t resist. It seems everyone here is a “christian right”, ready to judge what ever. I’m 44 and been married three times. And oh my god, yes, I cheated technically speaking the last time. And what of our founding falanderer, I mean founder Mr. Franklin, one of our “brightest”, but what a shame he couldn’t get past his infidelity. Hot Air is just that…Hot Gaseous Air!
jollybird on March 28, 2011 at 2:07 AM
This is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever read on Hot Air. How is not trusting a guy who would betray the person closest to him not based on “cold logic”? You’d have to be an absolute drooling moron to not take it into account. If he would do that to his wife, what won’t he do to the faceless masses that constitute his base?
Darth Executor on March 28, 2011 at 9:09 AM
There’s a big difference between forgiving and forgetting. To forgive someone’s transgressions does not mean pretending they never happened. When one admits to shortcomings, one is assuming responsibility, which implies acceptance of consequences.
Gingrich left his first wife while she was recovering from cancer surgery, for a woman with whom he was having an affair. (He and the ex dispute certain details of the split. She claims he visited her in the hospital to discuss the divorce; he denies this.) Gingrich left his second wife for a considerably younger congressional staffer with whom he was having an affair.
Perhaps he has changed. If so, more power to him. But character is an issue in a candidate, whether it’s about social policy, or fiscal policy. And THIS candidate would be quick to run on character issues, as he knows perfectly well the need to at least try to court the conservative base of the party, most of whom are people who manage to get through life without cheating on their spouses.
Without some evidence that his judgment has improved, I would no more support Gingrich’s presidency than I would that of Ben Franklin (who didn’t run for President back then either).
manwithblackhat on March 28, 2011 at 9:20 AM
Sounds like the National Enquirer. Nobody knows what kind of woman she was. I’ve met people staying in a marriage well after it was over, just because it was “moral”.
I perfer to look at a candidates intelligence and political veiws. And especially now, where they stand on foreign policy. We need a candidate that understands and can process what is happening out there.
jollybird on March 28, 2011 at 11:40 AM
Odumbo did cocaine and other drugs, get over it!
rjoco1 on March 28, 2011 at 3:13 PM
No Newt, you’re not.
There is such a thing in life as a “permanent mistake” which disqualifies one from other things in life.
scotash on March 28, 2011 at 3:17 PM
Good point. He’s an awesome president!
mankai on March 28, 2011 at 6:46 PM
Newt-
We don’t care whether you are serious about running for anything.
We aren’t remotely serious about you as the GOP candidate.
As someone who hasn’t done the things you did to your first 2 wives, I am not comfortable with you in the White House, to respond to your statement.
Have a great life, though.
molonlabe28 on March 28, 2011 at 6:53 PM
“brightest top-tier activists in the Republican Party”
And that about says it all for the rino leaning Inside the beltway Republicans.
Gingrich is a typical pol who’s overinflated ego and opinion of his worth show thru by his bombastic style and brain dead cluelessness in his personal life. But even after being shown to be awkward and weaselly, he’ll still try to run like so many before him that just couldn’t admit they didn’t have all the right stuff. Thus leading the Republican party down the road to defeat or to having to vote for a lesser candidate.
Message to NEWT:
DON’T RUN.
signed the Voting Public
jcw46 on March 28, 2011 at 9:11 PM
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